UDAN Spreads Its Wings: Government Receives Bids For 111 Routes From 15 Airlines In Third Auction

The Union government has stated that fifteen airlines have bid to provide affordable air travel for 111 routes under UDAN’s recently concluded third auction round, reports Mint.

“The bidding process has been completed and we have done the evaluation. We will place the results before the minister soon. There were 15 airlines that have bid a total of 111 initial proposals, which were then placed in the counter bidding.”

“Among these 15 airlines, six airlines participated in counter bidding and these six airlines put in a total of 17 counter proposals,” said a senior official with the Union Ministry Of Civil Aviation (MOCA).

In the auction, the government undertook ‘due diligence’ of airline firms before accepting their bids. It also rejected the proposals made by a few airlines which were financially constrained.

“We did not consider proposals by Air Odisha and Air Deccan as valid proposals and decided to avoid opening their financial bids… Their technical bids, however, were considered by the ministry,” added the official.

UDAN scheme

Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) is a first-of-its-kind regional connectivity scheme in the world. It was launched by the NDA government in 2016 to develop the regional aviation market.

It is a market-based mechanism in which airlines bid for seat subsidies. “The fare for a one hour journey of appx 500 km on a fixed-wing aircraft or for a 30-minute journey on a helicopter would now be capped at Rs. 2,500, with proportionate pricing for routes of different stage lengths/flight duration,” said a government release.

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